"The Stakes Are Real In This Place Now. Real Consequences..."
With the debut season of Westworld being the televisual definition of a slow burner, Johnathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's small-screen re-imagining of Michael Crichton's 1973 cult classic of the same name was still undoubtedly yet another rousing success for HBO, albeit one not quite in the same league of the likes of The Wire, The Sopranos or Game of Thrones as of yet, but with one of the finest hours of television the twentieth century has seen thus far to conclude its' initial ten episode run, it sure has been an agonising wait to comment on the inevitable follow up which finally arrives this week. With the second season under the subheading of "The Door", the premiere sees a wide range of narrative strands which pick up after the aftermath of last season's concluding bloodbath, with returning key characters and new faces alike attempting to bridge the gap between what went wrong and who ultimately is to blame for the collapse of the once apathetic hosts, and with the use of differing timelines, a cornerstone of Westworld's storytelling, being utilised once again to slowly answer the many questions raised from its' stellar first season, it's no surprise that the return of Westworld reminds you how puzzling and utterly captivating the show can be when hitting full stride.
Opening with a telling and foreboding past discussion between Jeffrey Wright's Arnold and Evan Rachel Wood's once caring and harmless Dolores Abernathy, the action swiftly moves to the implementation of the security team cleanup authorised by Westworld's overarching company, Telos, and the introduction of Gustaf Skarsgård's head of operations, Karl Strand, who after locating Wright in his host persona of Bernard, attempts to seek out what caused the hosts to turn murderous and against their basic and fundamental programming. With two weeks past since the death of Anthony Hopkins' Ford and the loss of total communications since then, the drama switches back and forth between Bernard's recollection of events immediately after the incident and the present day as he both attempts to hide his true identity from his Telos co-workers as well as understand the radical change his own mind is going through. With narrative swings which attempt to highlight the direction of the season ahead, the discovery of a particular foreign animal and a geographical anomaly nod at the expanding nature of the show which even in one episode has moved from the claustrophobic sensibility which was prevalent throughout most of the first series to a fresh eagerness to explore, confirming show-runner's Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan's comments regarding audience expectations of a much different Westworld season.
With the inevitable return of Wood's Abernathy and Ed Harris' Man in Black, now revealed to be the older presence of Jimmi Simpson's William, both characters seem to be revelling in the new world that has been created for them, with Abernathy being contaminated with the mind of Wyatt to the extent that the killing of "innocent" guests has now become second nature and her newly found freedom resulting in her declaring her wishes of exploring worlds's outside of her own, hand in hand with James Marsden's Teddy, whilst William's own freedom allows him to revel and shine in a world which has finally hit the dangerous levels he has always desired, with his character tempted once again by the ghost of Ford who tasks him with attempting to locate yet another puzzling destination. With Thandie Newton returning as Maeve, it is her particular subplot which surprisingly lessens the quality of the drama, with her reluctance to kill off Simon Quarterman's agonisingly annoying character in order to locate her lost artificial daughter being the stand out narrative strand which really could be shortened or erased completely, even with Newton's commanding on-screen presence. As far as season premiere's go therefore, Westworld kicks off in tantalising fashion with a wide range of interesting plot points to expand upon, and with a clear new direction in which exploration is key, the quality which concluded the first season has thankfully continued on.
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